Fresh thinking

Monteverdi L'Orfeo with Silent Opera

Winter 2012/13

Supported by SkyArts and Arts Council England, I spent autumn and winter 2012/13 working on an extraordinary sight-specific production of Monteverdi, L'Orfeo. Working alongside director Daisy Evans, we devised a production geared towards engaging a new generation of opera-lovers. Daisy's concept was to transport the audience completely into Orfeo's world, by immersing them in the theatre but by also putting them into a sound world heard through wireless earphones.

Finding the 'Rare' in the Theatrical music of Matthew Locke

Autumn 2010

The composer Matthew Locke (1621-1677) made much of his living composing incidental theatre music for the plays of Restoration London. This music, composed in short movements, embodies the vitality and contrasts of Restoration theatre - bawdy, tragic, comic, seductive. This music survives in a volume of over a hundred pieces named The Rare Theatrical - the music severed from its original dramatic context.

Having always been fascinated by this volume and intrigued by the hidden possibilities...